Writer…Runner…Birder

Focus, Tracy!

I meet with Claudia on Thursday to go over revisions.You may remember my glee at the progress I was making.At that point in time, I was confident I’d fly through the rest of the revisions.I told Claudia we were going to celebrate Earth Day together by reviewing all remaining chapters.As in, every single chapter through The End!

Well, soon after shooting off my mouth I slammed right into a Wall of Doubt.

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16 thoughts on “Focus, Tracy!”

Believe you me, I know that flight pattern by heart! So, apparently, does Carl Sandburg, who said: “There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.”

Don’t look at it this way! You are being attacked by your own inner demons, probably because you were happy and confident earlier. This happens to me A LOT. I think you need to recognize that being happy opened up this darker place. Sometimes when I do that, the darker place brightens and I can get back in the groove.

Yes, that’s pretty much what I meant. I have a lot of negative voices in my head that want to tear me down when I’m happy– and they get overactive if something does make me happy, esp. in my writing life. I can’t really shut them up all the way, but just knowing more about how they work and why helps lessen their impact on me. And I have hope that as I continue to work through all this, one day I won’t hear them anymore.

You’re right, Karen. She sent me a nice email last night letting me know it was perfectly okay to slow down as I near the end of the book. I knew that (somewhere inside) but it was good to hear it again.

Tracy is . . .

a writer of contemporary middle-grade and young adult fiction who enjoys trail running, hoop dancing, and bird watching. Sometimes, all of the above happen before her first cup of coffee.
BLOG KEY: Zippy = spouse. Wildebeest and Zebu = sons. Love and laughter = essential.